Trip Down South Raises Concerns for Iowan

ROCKFORD, Iowa–Chuck Laudner spent time down in Mississippi the last few weeks and he saw something there that he hasn’t seen in his home state of Iowa. And what is missing has him concerned. “I don’t see the same intensity,” Laudner said.

Laudner, who has served as Congressman Steve King’s chief of staff and executive director for the Republican Party of Iowa, had been working recently on behalf of the Tea Party Patriots in the Jackson, Mississippi, area. Tea Partiers had rallied behind Chris McDaniel’s primary campaign against longtime Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.

Cochran narrowly beat McDaniel Tuesday in an intense primary battle, where Cochran actually reached out to Democrats to help him hold onto his party’s nomination. That tactic, by the way, disgusted Laudner. Laudner said “that’s a bridge too far” for some Republicans and he predicted some of McDaniel’s supporters will push for a third-party run or they might just skip the November election altogether.

Laudner described Mississippi primary voters as “engaged,” something he just hasn’t felt the same way in Iowa’s U.S. Senate primary race. He helped run Sam Clovis’ campaign in the race. Clovis, a northwest Iowa radio talk show host and college professor, surprised some by finishing second in the primary, albeit a distant second to State Senator Joni Ernst’s lopsided win.

Laudner knows many pundits predict Republicans should have a strong year in November because of President Obama’s low poll numbers and the slow-growth economy. But he feels his party could be in for a disappointment if high-profile nominees like Ernst and 3rd District candidate David Young don’t prove to voters soon that they “stand for something.”

He believes both candidates do, in fact, stand for something. But he feels like they and his party need to do a better job of communicating that with Iowans to instill the same kind of passion in his state as he saw from primary voters in Mississippi.

Laudner will be a guest Sunday morning at 9:30 on Channel 13’s The Insiders.

8 comments

William Denison

Chuck Laudner should of stayed down in Mississippi if he likes the deep south so much. Iowa is not the deep south. Most of us up here have a brain. Just the fact that Chuck is in bed with Steve King and the tea party should sound the alarm bells for us here in this state. We are better than that. Chuck Laudner has zero creditability as does Steve King. Losers.

Central Iowa Man

William Denison

William Denison

A Mississippi tea party leader who was facing charges in connection with photos taken of Sen. Thad Cochran’s bedridden wife was found dead Friday after an apparent suicide, police told local media.

Mark Mayfield was found in his garage with a gunshot wound, according to Mississippi news station WLBT. He was a well known lawyer and vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party.
There really is a god….